Amazon announces free 'Kindle for Android' app

by Stevie Smith - May 19 2010, 06:24

Eager to extend the reach of its Kindle electronic book reading platform, online retailer Amazon has this week announced a mobile Kindle application specifically tailored for handsets powered by Google’s Android operating system.

“Kindle for Android is the perfect companion application for Kindle and Kindle DX owners, and is also a great way for customers to enjoy over 540,000 books in the Kindle Store even if they don’t yet have a Kindle,” commented Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle.

Boasting of the app’s “convenience and simplicity,” Amazon is keen to point out that its Kindle Store currently carries 96 of the 110 titles in the New York Times Bestsellers list, while Android users can also enjoy completely free access to tens of thousands of the most popular literary classics.

As with all free Kindle apps, Kindle for Android includes Amazon’s Whispersync technology, which saves and syncs bookmarks across multiple platforms (i.e., Kindle, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, BlackBerry, Mac and more). It also provides users with the ability to browse content by both genre and author, and also peruse customer reviews, personalised recommendations and editorial reviews.

Other features include a selection of five different font sizes, a ‘try before you buy’ sample function, and simple one-click changes between portrait and landscape reading modes. 

Due to arrive before the end of summer 2010, Kindle for Android addresses both the increasing spread of the Android OS on mobile devices and also the recent arrival of Apple’s iPad tablet computer, which doubles as a convincing eBook reader and is the same price as the Kindle DX.

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